- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Yes, this is existential ocd; i spent 2 years reading endlessly about nature of the self and what all this is; could not go a moment without trying to attain enlightenment as taught by hinduism. I would suggest telling the thoughts, "i don't know exactly what existence is, but that is okay." And then move to another activity for a while. You will likely have to do this many, many times for your brain to get the message. Good luck!
- Date posted
- 6y
Do you mind if I ask you what you experienced those times? The theories is what kills me. They give me panic attacks. I’m always thinking things of like multiverse stuff or that we’re all bacteria on this planet. These thoughts make me panic or depressed because of my fear. It makes me feel like nothing is real. Did you experience that?
- Date posted
- 6y
Hi! This can be a troubling topic for many. I believe in God and that we were created by Him. Yes, that means God had to always exist but how did He even come to be? I truly do not know the answer to this but I know He has always existed. If He didn’t exist how could humans exist? How could dust, debris, rocks and so on in the Big Bang possibly be “intelligent” enough or even able to create life? I’m sorry if I confused you even more but please think about this! Also, please remember that you are SO immensely loved by a God who died to know you. This life is full of daunting questions but I hope you can find comfort in God for those questions you can’t seem to find answers to and for anything and everything else??????!!!
- Date posted
- 6y
Omie, i would continously ask "who am i"? Try to achieve a thoughtless state to experience true reality. My anxiety came mainly from trying to mimic the lives of certain hindu saints. Cleanliness, organization, etc. If i bent, dirtied, or smudged a spiritual text or picture i would have terrible anxiety. Lots of checking my home/belongings to ensure they were just right, like saints would live. Looking back it was actually all so ridiculous
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
My last and almost life long theme/sub-theme largely subsided recently and my ocd felt like it wasn’t even an issue. Then I went on winter break from uni and being alone made my mind come up with a whole new topic to obsess over. TLDR on my fears, my advisor wouldn’t email me back for a while about signing up for classes so my mind started to worry “what if he doesn’t in time and you can’t enroll this semester and you lose this whole life you just built and all these new friends” So when that issue was resolved my mind found other scarier ways I could be uprooted from my current life and friends that I’ve grown so attached to. Then my mind remembered back when I was struggling with false memories and scrupulosity and I essentially made a post on a forum 2 and a half years ago saying I did something or was convinced I did something that I never actually did. Now I’ve been spiraling about someone finding it reporting me and I either get seen as a horrible person or arrested or something over something I never actually did but “admitted” to out of fear of going to hell. My mind won’t let it go and keeps finding new reasons for it to be “valid” “logical” or even inevitable. I feel like it’s just hanging over my head and I can never rest easy. Especially when I try to focus on my daily tasks or plan for the future I get this horrible flair up of “why plan for the future when this could come back in that future and you get uprooted from all of it” my mind won’t rest without certainty being uprooted won’t happen but certainty doesn’t exist, at least not with ocd. This sucks and I miss being care free.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 16w
I used to get caught in a loop with existential thoughts very frequently. Every question made my stomach drop: (TW: existential questions) … … ... "Why does anything exist at all? What will death be like? Is anything even real? Is there any meaning to this? Is the universe infinitely big, and if not, what's beyond it? Are there multiverses? Has the universe been around forever? Will the universe end for good, or will it keep going forever? What is forever like? What even IS reality?" It would get so overwhelming that I remember lying on the floor in a fetal position for hours because I felt like there was no escape. I spent most of my days reading articles and watching videos about theoretical astrophysics and philosophy in a desperate attempt to "figure it all out." Of course that only made me more anxious, raised more questions, and kept me trapped in the cycle. Things started to improve once I learned to turn TOWARD reality, rather than away from it, and ERP really helped me do that. I learned that these questions weren't the problem. I learned that I can actually handle the anxiety that arises when exposed to these ideas and concepts. I don't have to figure anything out to make the anxiety go away; it arises and passes away on its own. Ironically, bringing myself into the present moment and becoming more aware of reality helped me escape the cycle of existential dread. Because of that, this topic no longer takes over my life. If I'm triggered by something I see, hear, or think, I may still feel a little twang of anxiety, but then it just goes away. "Maybe, maybe not" has been the single most useful phrase of my life. Do you ever get trapped in a cycle of existential questions? Are you worried that the ERP approach would be too scary to handle? If so, I'm happy to give my advice.
- Date posted
- 14w
i have been diagnosed with OCD & generalized anxiety disorder. for some reason, i’ve been very hyper aware of everything. like the way i talk, the way i see the world, how certain things sound/look/feel, and it’s very distressing. i feel like the hyper awareness makes me afraid of things? like for some reason, my mind attached to cartoons, and i was hyperfocusing on it, and got extremely scared, like scared of the cartoon for no reason? i’ve done this a lot, and i get scared i have psychosis or schizophrenia, or something that makes you afraid of things for no unknown reason. i feel so scared that this is my new normal…. im heartbroken. so many what if’s. did i just ruin my own life?? 💔
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